Tom Gleeson: If You Enjoy Chaos... Tune In!

Russell chats with Tom Gleeson ahead of Hard Quiz Kids and the little contestants are locked and loaded with insults! From Bluey to Roblox to the Australian Government, no topic is off limits. Plus, Tom spills on what he was obsessed with as a kid and it might suprise you? 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tom Gleason, host of season two of Hard Quiz Kids,
which begins at seven thirty tomorrow night on the ABC
and will be available on abc I View a little
later today.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning, Tom, Good morning, Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
You're welcome. So good news you're working with children. Permit
has been renewed for another season.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, I mean good news for viewers because it's entertaining
to watch. But most of the entertainment I think comes
from watching me cope. So you know, if you enjoy chaos,
tune in.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Tell us a bit about season two. What makes it
different from season one are the kids are just a
little smarter, a little harder to tackle.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well that all the kids you come into season two,
they've watched season one, so they're coming in a lot
more hot. So they're full of insults, ready to go.
They've watched all ten seasons of Hard Quiz and they're
just all over me. And at times it was, yeah,
it was hard for me to get a word in.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
So you actually have to be a bit smarter. The
roasting as well, patient is more what I was thinking.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
The records take a lot longer than the regular episodes
because there's a lot of stuff that just cannot go
to air because it's nonsense.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
I just got to wonder, do you have to do
a special kind of abc HR training before you before
you do this.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
No, they just trust me to go at it. I mean,
my children are about the same age as the contestants,
so I sort of know how to push the limits without,
you know, without without breaking them totally and leaving their
soul intact.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
What's which is harder dealing with the adults or dealing
with the kids, Because you can go a little harder
on the adults, but you've got to You've got to
go carefully with the kids. So that must make it
a little bit more difficult for you.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Oh well, with the children. The one thing that's a
bit weird is there's a bit of a roasting culture
at primary school these days. Often kids come home from
schools saying, oh, yeah, we're having a roast battle in
the in the playground. So they're kind of across the
idea of the banter, and they're pretty much they're pretty
impervious to the banter that don't really get offended. That's
kind of fine. I mean, obviously I keep it to
stuff that they would understand. The thing that they get

(02:07):
upset about is losing because they really desperately want to
win more than the adults. So you know, when they
get booted out, you know there's sometimes there are tears
back in the green room.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
And you have to go back and console them. I
didn't really mean it. I didn't really mean it. I
didn't mean to be like they go.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
And consoll them. I've got someone else who does it
for me.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
I've got a man for that. So what are some
of the because you know, obviously you've already had a
season of it with the kids, is what is one
of the most interesting subjects that any of the kids
have been shall we say qualified or an expert in.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, it's kind of subjects that you'd expect, Like in
episode one, Yeah, that goes up and I view today
there's bluey and roadblocks, you know, things you think kids
might be interested in. But then there's also like coming up,
there's a kid who's experts subject is Australian government. And
asked him who his favorite politician was, and he said
Peter Dutton. Like, okay, Astralia wearing a suit.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
He must be fun in the playground, oh man.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
But he was serious too. He's not. He's not just
banging it on for TV. He was fascinated by politics.
His parents aren't. That was the other thing that was weird,
Like he was really into it, but his parents didn't care.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
So ah, there's a future. There's a future leader in
the making right there on the show.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Oh yeah, I said you're going to be a politician
one day, and he said, yeah, I'd like to be.
And I said, well, what you've got to do is
you've got it when you turn seveneen and go straight
to Canberra. Become a start and make sure you get
no real world experience and you'll be perfect.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Detach from reality perfect. That's the past to take. That
is the path to take. Hey, as a kid, what
what subject did you have a special interest in? Were
you obsessed with anything like Australian government.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
I was really mathematics actually, which I guess is kind
of odd because most kids hate maths. But I just
found maths easy. So I'm only into it because it
required the least amount of study for the most amount
of results. It was more of an efficiency thing.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Well lucky for you, not for the rest of us.
But then again, maths is everything. Everything is maths as
they say.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, well, I mean, but that's also been how I've
lived my life, so that is I try to I
tend to be good at things that everyone else hates.
So I'm good at maths, which everyone hates, so that's handy.
So you've got no competition, and I'm good at public speaking,
which everyone hates, so again there's no competition.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
There you go. You've just carved out a path for
yourself with no competition. So that's season two of Hardkoo's Kids.
As I said tomorrow night seven thirty on ABC TV
and Atual Leisure anytime from later today on ABC, I
view the joys of streaming. But you're paying us a
visit early next year. You're bringing your stand up show
to to Wa. You've got four shows now at the

(04:59):
re Theater, two of which are sold out, and you've
got two new shows one both one on the thirtieth
of January and the other one on the thirty first
of January. And tickets are also selling fast for the
Bumbery and Mandra shows as well. What do we expect
tom roasting of the audience, roasting of you.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, well, the show's called out of touch. Course, I'm
I'm mind that's where I'm at. So I'm sort of
trying to get on the front foot and try to
a bit like that kid getting into politics. Well, yeah,
I'm out of touch, and I mean, you know, I
can't even relate to people who host only one TV show.
I've got three now and I'll be flying over business
class to rub everyone's nose, and I need people to
turn up to take me down a peg and just

(05:44):
put me in my plate. Yeah. Well, of course, because
you're a You're.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
A gold Leggi winner, so of course you're going to
be in business class and a little out of touch.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
But that's it. The audience keeps me. They keep me
on track. So if you know, if I'm being too
perverse in my paces, they let me know. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
But do you give it to the crowd too, Do
you drag anybody up on stage and make an example
of them, especially if they're a heckler?

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Oh no, I never really drag people up on stage.
I do that when I'm doing Hard Quiz live because
I need contestants, but I always invite the crowd to
tell me what they did and didn't believe about the show.
So often the show devolves into the crowd yelling at
me and me straightening them out and yeah, and correcting
the records and so. And that's a great thing about
my show is if you have any complaints, you don't

(06:31):
have to make them later in an email or on
social media. You can make them in real time and
I'll deal with them in the theater before you go.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Sounds a bit like hard Kids, hard quiz kids. It
sounds like chaos.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
All my show's ending chaos. But I hate to say
it's usually the highlight of the show. But I'm not in.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Control or think spiral, spiral, out of control. That's a
perfect show.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
So you're in Perth at the Regal Theater on the
thirtieth and the thirty first two shows on the thirtieth,
The first show is sold out, the second one has
been added at eight pm on the thirtieth, and there's
another show now, The seven pm show on the thirty
first is sold out, but there's an earlier show at

(07:16):
five pm on the thirty first as well. That's at
the Regal Theater. Those tickets won't last long, given that
the other two shows sold out so quickly, and given
that there is chaos awaiting and everybody's going to want
to be there to see it. So if you want
to get your tickets and you do want to comedy,
dot com dot au is where you can get them. Hey, Tom,

(07:38):
good luck with season two of Hard Quiz Kids, and
good luck with the with the stand up comedy show.
We look forward to seeing you and all the chaos
that you bring in January next year.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, now, Oris, I'm looking forward to coming over. It's
also it's part of Perth Fringe World, which I don't
think the lineup's even been announced yet. So if you
want to get in before all the losers get the program,
buy ticket.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Now out of it's been announced by you right now.
The highlight, the highlight of the whole shebang.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
I say, I can't wait to get over there.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Thank you, good on your Tom, Thank you very much
for your time this morning.